Were the same people in the Palm Sunday
procession in Jerusalem and in the crowds which demanded Jesus's execution a few days
later. Perhaps some of the same people were at both events. More likely, however, they
were two very different crowds. The former was made up of his followers and friends from
Galilee, the latter from the wandering mobs that characterize any city on a big festival
day. Where were the followers of Jesus? With a few exceptions they were somewhere else.
They knew they couldn't fight "city hall." They realized that the dream was over
and that what they had feared all along would happen. The leaders would snatch Jesus
secretly and put an end to his "good news" which they perceived as a threat to
their power. What the realists among Jesus's followers had predicted all along had at last
happened. The best thing to do was to go to ground and hide till the trouble blew over.
Jesus was wonderful all right, but what had he done for them lately.

Once
upon a time there was a basketball coach. When he came to his new school, they had not
enjoyed a winning season for eight years. The media vultures naturally said he was a poor
choice and pouted because no one had paid any attention to their recommendations. His
first season the team broke even. The fans were unhappy. Maybe the media vultures were
right. The next season, they ended up in second place in their conference. The vultures
said that the team would have won if the coach had not made a lot of mistakes in key
games. Then for seven years in a row the team won their conference championship. The
vultures continued to complain and the important alumni worried about how long the run
could last. The following year the team finished in second place. The vultures went wild
with glee. The coach was losing it. The next year was worse because the team was stricken
with sickness, injuries and academic ineligibility; the coach had only one year left on
his contract. . The al! um! ni were now whispering to the atheltic director, get rid of
the bum! What has he done for us lately. The atheletic director agreed because he resented
the coach's popularity. They wanted to fire him on the spot. But the president of the
school insisted that he be permitted to finish out his contract (Presidents sometimes have
the odd notion that sports are not the only really important thing in a school.) The coach
was booed at the early games as he tried to hold together a team of talented but
inexperience freshmen. You know what happened then? They won the national championship and
coach accented a ten million dollar contract at another university.